Philip, Jen and Peyton's Pages

New developments

As we are nearing Christmas, we have a lot of things going on in the Sellers family.  The biggest news will close this afternoon…  Jen and I are buying land.  We don’t have any immediate plans for the land, but we are going to hold on to it and  hopefully build our dream home on it in a few years.  But, we have to wait for the market to come back and find the correct time to sell the house we are in.  

The land buying process has been almost a year and a half in the making.  We had been looking casually for land for about a year even before that, but around September of 2007, we found an 1.75 acres that we were really interested in.  It was near good friends of ours (psuedo-family) and it was enough land that we were happy, but not too much that we’d would be overwhelmed taking care of it…  The area was very nice and it was the last lot in the group to be built on – so the area is as developed as it should ever be.  

After negotiating for a few months with the builder who were selling it as a land/home package, we could never come to an agreement on the home and the price for the custom build.  So, we made an offer for land-only for what we believed the land was worth.  The owners wanted more but we were unwilling and walked away.  Fast-forward to October of this year and the land was for sale as land-only, and for much less than they had previously thought the land was worth.  We made an offer again for the same amount and this time it was accepted.  Thank you sucky economy for something…

Anyways, we close this afternoon on the lot.  Afterwards, Jen and I are going to drive out there and take a couple pictures of the land and of us on our land.  Then we’re treating ourselves to the Right Recipe for dinner as a celebration…  

Once we build, our address will officially change from Conway, SC, to Loris, SC.  And, its much more peaceful out in the country.  Its so quiet…  I absolutely love it and I’m so very excited about this.  Jen is, too.

Peyton at 25 months…

Peyton is growing and developing so amazingly.  She’s smart as a whip and crafty, too.  She’s sweet and loving.  So much as happened since the last update.  She is talking up a storm and she’s got an natural need to understand and learn about the world around her.  She is a little sponge.

At daycare, she is learning the shapes and what things are made in those shapes.  She’s also learning her colors and what things are those colors.  She knows everyone in her class and she can tell you everyone’s name.  She is extremely social, which I find great since I have issues being social around people until I know them pretty well.  (Of course, you know that then all bets are off!)  She really enjoys and misses daycare when she’s not there.  She looks forward to seeing her friends.

At home, she is so good with technology.  She loves Barney and Elmo DVD’s.  As much as we have tried not to let her watch too much TV, she loves these programs.  She is glued to the TV while that big purple monstrosity dinosaur is on there.  And, she knows which of her DVD’s she wants to watch and she’ll let you know.  She also knows how to change the DVD and start it with the controls on front.  I watched her do the same at Gaga and Papa Sellers’ house this weekend – she’s mastered using their DVD, as well.  She’s trying to learn how to use my iPhone and our computers.  She really enjoys watching the picture slideshows on the TV or computer.

She visited Santa yesterday at Bass Pro Shops… She was a little scared of him and wouldn’t sit on his lap.  So, mom sat in Santa’s chair with her while Santa stood to the side…  We asked her while we were in line what she wanted from Santa and she said that she wanted “toys.”  When we asked what kind, she said Elmo.  So, we’ll have to wait and see what she gets from Santa…

Peyton also loves playing outside now.  She really enjoys being outside and she’s infatuated by the birds.  And planes, she can spot an airplane anytime there is one around.  Whether we’re in the car or playing outside she can spot them and will point and make sure we see them too.

One other change is happening.  Our little fearless girl is not quite as fearless.  This morning she awoke to Minnie Mouse looking right back at her and she was a little scared.  She called for her mommie to move Minnie…  But she’s also been scared of other things from time to time.  She was absolutely terrified of a hayride a few weekends back, though she insisted that Da-Da should ride it.   She takes her moments with tractors and other things that are loud.

In other BIG news, she’s now sleeping in a big girl bed instead of a crib.  We converted her crib this past weekend into a daybed with a rail to keep her from falling out at night.  But that gives her freedom to get up and leave the bed when she would like… no more bars!  So far its going well. She was very excited to sleep in her big girl bed the first night and she didn’t get out until the next morning.  The next night, she got up a couple times before she went down for the night, but not bad.  Last night, she fell asleep in front of the TV while watching the Tinkerbell movie and didn’t want to be moved, but once she did move to her bed, she stayed all night.

Anyways, that’s where Peyton is at 25 months…

Thankful for… 2008 edition

I’m a little late on posting this, mostly because internet access is on short supply in my parents house.  Its only wiffs of signal from the closest AT&T tower, but that only really works in the kitchen, it seems…  But that’s an aside.  We have lots to be thankful for this year.

We are thankful for:

• Peyton – she is wonderful and sweet.  We love her with everything we have!
• Our health – we are all healthy and happy with no real issues to speak of
• Work – both Jen and I have jobs that are doing well and are stable, despite the downturn in the economy
• Family – we enjoy our wonderful families, and as much as we may complain from time to time about his or that, we both come from very good stock and we are surrounded by great examples of the character we should all strive for.
• Friends – as much as our family is important, our surrogate family members are just as great and we love them dearly.  We have a great circle of friends to live life with and we enjoy the times we have with them…